There has been a long-standing problem with the operation of cameras underwater. While specialized underwater cameras, with specialized water proof housings, and with buttons connected via O-rings, are known, this solution is often insufficient. Many of the best cameras, and those with which cinematographers are familiar, work only outside of water. So, no later than the 1970s, specialized housings for cameras were created. While such housings are water-tight, a problem still remains as to a method of controlling the camera. Often, to this day, cinematographers turn on the camera above water, place the camera in the housing and then descend, wasting some of the finite amount of camera battery life and storage space.
To alleviate the problem of controlling a camera underwater, complex couplings have been developed, allowing one to push a button at a specific location. Due to such mechanical couplings passing through housings, the reliability of the liquid tight seals is affected negatively with age and the seals require routine maintenance. Still further, by virtue of the use of mechanical structures for operating the camera, the adaptability of the known devices to different types of cameras is limited.
Therefore, inventors have developed magnetic coupled buttons which work through a waterproof case. One example of this is U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,937 to Wolfe, disclosing a camera with a movable magnet on the outside of the housing to selectively operate an electrical switch. This device functions by aligning one magnet on the outside of a waterproof housing with a magnet in the interior thereof, pulling a switch towards the aligned magnet, thus activating the switch. This concept, while functional, requires a specially shaped camera, housing, and magnets attached to specific positions on a camera.
In another version of a magnetically activated button to control a camera, U.S. Pat. No. 7,385,645 to Boon discloses a concept similar to that of Wolfe. A stationary magnet is placed on a button of a camera, inside a waterproof housing. Another magnet is placed within an enclosed space on the other side of the waterproof housing. Thus, if the device leaks at the position of this button cut into the housing, it will leak only into the outer magnet, and not into the housing, possibly causing damage to the camera itself. Many of the drawbacks of Wolfe, however, remain in this reference because magnets must be fixed to specific buttons on the camera itself. Further, while Wolfe allowed one to position a magnet as a button anywhere on the exterior, Boon requires that the magnet/button be at a pre-set location. Many of today's cameras have large touch-screens providing a further drawback due to the magnet blocking part of the screen.
What is needed is a way to house any camera in a waterproof case, while being able to control any and all buttons on the camera from outside the case, wherever they may be. Preferably, this should be accomplished without having to modify, make permanent changes, or attach further parts to the camera, while neither compromising on the seal around the camera or viewing of a screen on the camera.